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Thanks Drewski, painting is coming closer (probably in January) I had a look at my model store and they had some kind of bleus/black spray paint. I think I will give that a try.
In the meantime, progress is coming along, began detailing a shaping the helmet, adding the reinforcement strips, nice McQuarrie added those, this way the helmet doesn’t have to have a perfectly shaped dome.

Also made 2 lens pieces. I couldn’t find something in transparent/black, so I will try painting it with a couple of thinned layers of black paint, hoping it will stay a bit transparent. Also will try with the car window foil, but I think the curvature is a bit too much…we’ll see.

Also added some detail on the neck brace, this is a bit of improvisation because the rendition doesn’t show this part. But I did look at other McQuarrie drawing for inspiration.

WOW ! the additions look fantastic. Not sure if its still being made but there used to be spray-on window tint that would work well on the lenses. You could control the shade of tint by adding multiple coats.

This is the way I fasten the back part of the neck brace. When I have the mask part on my face the only way to attach the back part of the neck is from the outside. Between my neck and de neck brace is very little room to wiggle etc. I had all sorts of terrible and complicated solutions in mind before I came up with this simple one. The elastic bands are easy to slip over the bolts. Eventually I will use black rubber bands, they will blend in with the design and the color of the mask.

Worked some more on the helmet today, finished the reinforcement strips.
I wasn’t satisfied with the curvature of the “throat” part. Too curvy, the nose of the helmet looked like it had no connection with the neck (at least from some angles) The original rendition doesn’t show, other Vader sketches that do show the neck are of a different design (more insect like) Now I re-sculpted the throat and it looks better. (see bottom picture)

Lastly I experimented with position of the helmet on the mask. In my previous post it was much higher, exposing more mask en neck. In these pictures I dropped the helmet 11mm. maybe that is too low. I can always experiment once the the mask is finished, just by adding or taking away a couple of rings on the bolts.

This is probably my last update for this year, need to keep the place clean for the holidays! Anyway I thank everyone for following my build and the nice words and support. Until next year…haha

New year a new update! Finished tweaking on the mask and finally sprayed the first layer of black on it. I went for metal black, simple but it works for me. Funny how the mask “transforms” when it it’s black. The helmet still needs some sanding before I can spray it.

Finally sprayed the entire helmet black, I’m pleased with the result, though there are still some places that need to sprayed and some dents filled. The color is black but I played with a blue filter on my camera. The pictures now show a surface color like in the original illustration. I hesitated with a blue color before but now it looks appealing if I sprayed the helmet like in the pictures…hmmm …a lot to think about.

hngfl;sn kdasj'akjm v amkblf,adkl.... oops, sorry that was me wiping the drool off my keyboard. Well done! So cool to see this from beginning to end and every step along the way. Thanks for sharing! Now get cracking on the McQuarrie Stormie!

This build is so freaking awesome!
For some reason the concept Vader design has always reminded me of Mad Magazine's Spy Vs Spy

I can see what you mean, the McQuarrie concept has a real villainous look to it. the film version is more mechanic and less emotional.

redkraytdragon said:

Now get cracking on the McQuarrie Stormie!

Haha...the Stormie is on the list and so is his C3PO concept. There are some more concept trooper helmets out there, but I don't recall seeing a 3PO concept helmet/mask
so maybe that's going to be the next project...but that has to wait for the summer, I still have a bunch of model kits waiting for me as well.